At the top of BBC World News on the radio early this morning was an account of the treatment of prisoners by the Qaddafi. Among those prisoners a couple of day ago was a trio of BBC reporters who were beaten and tortured and subjected to a mock execution before being released. They got off easier than Libyans being held at the same location at the same time. The Libyans had been tortured and beaten so extensively that they couldn't be touched, even in a crowded cell, without screaming in pain.
One of the three, Chris Cobb-Smith, said: "We were lined up against the wall. I was the last in line - facing the wall.
"I looked and I saw a plain-clothes guy with a small sub-machine gun. He put it to everyone's neck. I saw him and he screamed at me.
"Then he walked up to me, put the gun to my neck and pulled the trigger twice. The bullets whisked past my ear. The soldiers just laughed."
Also at the BBC? The news that France has recognized the Libyan rebels as that country's legitimate government.
France has become the first country to recognise the Libyan rebel leadership, the National Libyan Council (NLC), as the country's legitimate government.
It come as Nato is set to discuss military options in the Libyan conflict including a possible no-fly zone.
There is growing concern about the bombing of rebel-held areas by the forces of Col Muammar Gaddafi.
A BBC team which were detained and beaten up in Libya witnessed widespread mistreatment by the security forces. ...
... The Red Cross president said on Thursday there was a marked increase in civilian casualties in what he called a "civil war".
And the UK is looking at the no-fly zone option.
Meanwhile, things are looking a bit iffy again in Cairo where the military appear to have turned against the freedom fighters.
Small groups of men armed with rocks and knives have attacked hundreds of pro-reform protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square ahead of a move by the the Egyptian army to eject the last campaigners from the centre of the uprising that drove President Mubarak from power.
Reformists have continued to gather in Tahrir Square since Mubarak was toppled on Februay 11, though not as many as before. Activists have called for bigger participation to press demands for political reform.
However, state television on Wednesday showed footage of hundreds of people in the square facing off and throwing rocks as protesters said they came under attack.
"A group of gangsters attacked us with stones, they seemed to be wanting us to leave the square," said Gamal Hussein, 60.
Later in the day, army officers were seen removing protesters' tents asking them to leave the square, according to witnesses.
Amnesty International cited witnesses claiming that the army were beating up protesters, breaking up informal medical clinics and wiping out the memory cards of journalists attempting to record the events. At least two people were reported injured.
NPR has a vivid account of the new unrest in Egypt, and of watching the military turn on their former friends in the Square.
Mohamed El Baradei has confirmed that he will run for president of Egypt, "but only on the condition of real democratic reform, not the proposals currently being drawn up by the interim government."
Speaking on a live talk show on Egypt's ONTV channel, El Baradei said that he would vote against proposed constitutional reforms on 19 March, describing them as "superficial" and an "insult to the revolution." He also called for parliamentary elections to be delayed.
Current military rulers have said they want to hand over power six months after Mubarak is ousted, but El Baradei said that this would run the risk that the well organised Muslim Brotherhood would control the new parliament.
"We are at a decisive period in Egypt's history," El Baradei told ONTV. "We shouldn't rush. Everything should be on a solid basis."
